Work to make judiciary look good, Kalla says
Work to make judiciary look good, Kalla says
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Vice President Jusuf Kalla called on lawyers on Friday to help
improve the judiciary's reputation by refraining from corruption
and bribery in the courts.
Lawyers are often accused of bribing judges to win their court
cases.
"The role of lawyers as independent and responsible
professionals is very important, and apart from law enforcement
agencies," he told a ceremony to mark the opening of a national
meeting of the Indonesia Advocates Association (AAI) in Bali.
The event, themed "the Advocates' Role in Clean and Respected
Law Enforcement", was attended by Supreme Court Chief Justice
Bagir Manan and Minister of Justice and Human Rights Hamid
Awaluddin.
Kalla said that as a pillar in developing supremacy of the
law, the advocates association was required to uphold its code of
ethics and monitor the conduct of its members.
Bagir Manan shared a similar idea, saying that lawyers should
play a role in establishing a clean and respectable judiciary
system in order to improve its reputation, often tainted by the
"judicial mafia" tag.
"The role of lawyers is crucial because there is no judiciary
without lawyers, and vice versa, in a modern judiciary system,"
he said after attending Friday's opening ceremony.
The chief justice said that only recently had Indonesian
lawyers come to understand how important was their role in
establishing a clean judiciary, as they had been "thinking only
about themselves" for years.
"Now we are supposed to enter the stage of taking real action
to improve the reputation of the judiciary. Hopefully, the theme
will not only serve as cosmetics to attract people," Bagir said.
He admitted that advocates often visited judges to ask them to
rule in favor of their clients, adding that his office had
prohibited judges from meeting with lawyers dealing with cases
they are trying.
"It's immoral and against the code of ethics and regulations,"
Bagir said.
Although many lawyers are allegedly involved in the "judicial
mafia", almost all of them escape justice due to lack of
evidence.
One case was recently revealed by the Corruption Eradication
Commission (KPK), which has extensive authority to fight endemic
corruption in Indonesia.
Lawyer Tengku Syaifuddin Popon, who worked for suspended Aceh
governor Abdullah Puteh, was caught red-handed by KPK
investigators allegedly trying to bribe two court clerks of the
Jakarta High Court.
The bribe was intended to reduce the 10-year prison term for
Puteh, which was handed down by the Anticorruption Court. He had
been found guilty of corruption over the purchase of a Russian-
made chopper for the Aceh administration.
The bribery case involving Popon and the two court clerks is
being tried by the Anticorruption Court.